how do you keep your confidence in a match ?

lorider said:
As the title says....how do you keep your confidence during a match....particularly against higher level players..

I have been in a funk lately in 8 ball during league. I only have a 37% win record this session while 9 ball is at 67%. I decided what better way to get out if a funk than to go play in a tournament ? Beats sitting at home alone anyway .

It was handicapped and a first for me playing loser breaks. I must say it seemed like one of the most accurate handicapped tournament I have played in on a long time.

I knew some people but there were several I had never seen before. I had a few close matches and came out on top until I faced the room owner who i know pretty well and is an apa 7/8...i am a 5/5. The race was me going to 3 and him 5. The same race it would be in apa. I lost hill - hill by making a mistake on the 8. I had that lil negative guy whispering in my ear....if you miss he is out. Well you know what always happens in that situation. I missed . Now it was not a hard shot at all and I could probably make it 98% of the time. Thing is I did not make it when I needed it most.

Well I came through the losers bracket all the way to the finals and faced him again. Long story short....same scenario and same outcome as the first time I faced him.

Now I am one of those guys who dont like to lose but at the same time I have no problem losing to a guy that just plain outplayed me. I just hate beating myself and that's what happened in both losses to him.

Please don't tell me I gotta gamble to learn to play under pressure. It does nothing for me because I will never gamble more than I could afford to lose and if its a situation where I could afford to lose it then there is no pressure.

I guess I need to jump in the fire more and play through it. As far as pressure goes...i feel more pressure in league knowing my team mates are counting on me than when I play on my own.

I just gotta figure out a knock that little negative guy out when he starts whispering crap in my ear lol.
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Take control of the things you can do. Focus on your routine. Make sure you do all the things you typically do when you feel you will make the ball. The whole idea is not to do some new special thing, but NOT to do some new special thing. What he does is irrelevant until the game is over. When I play a better player, I find myself thinking about the shots themselves (when they are shooting), not so much about the idea that I'm playing that person I'm watching. I want to see how they hit it, etc. When it's my turn, I try to do the regular things I do when I feel good and feel like I will make the ball. Occasionally I get a big win against a better player.

KMRUNOUT
 
I focus on decision making and controlling my demeanor, and if the execution isn't there, then it just isn't there.
 
When I competed, fear was my friend.
Don't lie to yourself...if your opponent plays well, deal with it...the better he plays, the more
he should affect your choices.

Players that go looking for confidence tend to find false confidence.
...so no whistling in the dark...embrace your fear....and learn to function with it.
 
When I was barely a "B" player I was lucky enough via raffle to win one of several spots to play Earl Strickland in a game of 8-Ball at this promotional personal appearance he was doing. I was a nobody, no one knew who I was except my buddies who were at the event with me.

The other players who won a shot were all well known "A" players in the area. They all $#!+ their pants at the idea of playing Earl. They couldn't hold their cues. It was like they were trying to shoot pool with telephone poles.

I figured that OK, I'm playing Earl Strickland, but he ain't at the table when I am so it's all about me playing my game. If I had a good percentage shot I took it, if I didn't I left him stuck. I had at least 2 turns where I didn't like what I had so, I played safe. It pissed him off something fierce. I did my best to covertly antagonize him. He ran out on me when I had just one of my balls left on the table. It was a million times better than any of the "A" players did. I got props from everyone including Earl after it was over.

Long story short, focus on what you can control and forget about what you can't.
In other words, PLAY YOUR GAME. Take you opponents strengths & weaknesses into consideration when you plot your strategy, but PLAY YOUR GAME.

Hope that helps.
 
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For me, when that jerk is whispering in my ear, I just stand up, walk around the table, go through my normal routine and take the shot.

My problem, that jerk whispering to me, comes in to play normally when I start to take longer and longer on my shots which typically means that I've either not decided which is the better shot to take or I've just convinced myself that I'm going to miss this shot. Getting up, walking around the table, forces me to reevaluate everything I'm looking at, focuses me and puts me back in my game.
 
Playing pool can be like speaking in public. Some people feel that you can establish confidence by imagining your audience (or in this case, your opponent) naked.

I like to imagine myself naked. Now THAT is confidence.
 
To me confidence = concentrating.

The very second I loose concentration, I miss a shot or safe and in turn loose confidence.

As for better players, well the better my opponent, the more likely I will hold my concentration.

That's all I got,

Rake
 
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